Moxie One Shots
by katrin87
Summary: One shots that tie between Stronger and Birthday Surprises or happen during BS. I'll add chapters as I go along. Third short is from Tank's POV again. I replaced the third chapter so it should make sense now.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: The characters are JE's. I don't own them, I just borrowed them without permission.

This short ties in between Stronger and Birthday Surprises.

Thanks to Mud for editing.

**Follow up 1**

"Moxie."

"No."

"We've been at it for two hours now. Let me at least take a break."

"No." Was it that hard to believe?

"But Moxie."

"I said no, damnit. Stop the whining Les and start taking this serious here. I don't want the same disaster the next time when we're shipped out, just because you guys can't throw a dart. Now do it again."

"Please. Let me take a break. My arms hurt and I'm gonna be sore tomorrow."

"Stop acting like a little girl. The more you whine, the longer it will take. I'll let you go when you hit the target three times in a row. But there's gonna be another session tomorrow."

I didn't really enjoy torturing the guys one at a time here, but other than Ranger, they all had serious problems hitting the mark with a tranq dart. Made me wonder if they'd ever played darts.

"No, we usually played pool." There went the ESP again.

"Lester Santos, just get your ass in gear. I've better things to do than watch you." I went over to correct his stance once again. And then I adjusted his arms, like I had done a dozen times already.

He finally decided to throw the darts like I had shown him. I watched him with hawks eyes, but in eventually he got the hang of it and I decided to let him go for the day.

When we made our way up to the break room, Les asked me about my first experiences with the darts. "How long did it take you to get the hang of it?"

"Not sure, but it was one of the things I got rather quick. The guys were kicking my ass to get me to speed up, so don't you dare and think I've been pushing you, because that was nothing."

"Okay, but why do you want us to get professionals at throwing stuff."

"A professional is an amateur who didn't quit the training."

"Huh?"

"At the beginning in boot camp, did you go there, already perfect with your gun?"

"Not perfect, but I'd picked up a few things already."

"When you started shooting, did you hit the target every time?"

"No, but with training I got better." We were finally getting somewhere.

"And you knew that in the army, being able to shoot really good may one day safe your life, so you tried everything to get better at it. Right?"

"Yeah. Where are you going with this?"

"Just wait. When we were shipped out, how would you've incapacitated the guards while we got out the hostage without them knowing that someone's there?"

"I don't know. If you hadn't been there, we'd probably have them taken down and when we had the hostage out tried to hide the bodies a little."

"Which version would be the easier one?"

"Yours."

"Thanks Les. I don't want to torture you deliberately. I'm just trying to give you another tool that's helped me on numerous occasions now."

"What do you mean numerous occasions?"

"For one, the mission TK took me on, we used them. And then the one we all went together. But I've also been using them to take down wily skips. I have a lighter tranq in them, but the skips sleep the whole way to the station. You don't have to listen to cursing and their threats. You just send them under and then have a good trip. Only problem is, you have to get them into the car, but Lil's pretty good with stuff like this."

"How come he never told me anything about it?"

"No idea. That's something you'll have to ask him."

"Okay. I see now where you're coming from, but I sure don't like it to be tortured at the gun range again. Makes me feel like boot camp all over again."

"I know Les. But I prefer boot camp over being captured every day of the week."

We made our way through the hallway, when I stopped at my office door. "Les, I just remembered there's some paperwork waiting I need to finish. If you see Lil, can you send him to me please?"

"Sure."

"Oh, and you should ask Bobby to give you some cream for your wrist. He'll know what to give you."

"You serious?"

"Absolutely. Same time tomorrow in the gun range."

"Moxie, you're evil."

"Don't I know it. Now go and get some lunch or Tank might have eaten it all."

He nodded and was on his way.

I stepped in my office and once again took the time to look around. Ranger and the guys had surprised me with my own office two weeks after we came back from our mission. It took Ranger and me half an hour to christen the desk, half a day later all available surfaces had been christened. But I still loved to have my own office, instead of working in a cubicle. I even had a plaque with my name and function next to the door.

The office itself was done in a light blue, to accentuate my eyes, Ranger had said, with a large window wall. The floor was a dark, expensive hardwood, just the way I liked it best. I wasn't a fan of carpet and Ranger obviously knew that. One wall was covered with cases to hold files. In the corner between the door to the hallway and the door that connected my office with Ranger's was a dark leather couch, complete with an armchair and a glass coffee table. My desk itself was magnificent. Done in a dark wood, sturdy yet feminine, I had no idea where he'd gotten it, but I loved it. The various drawers held everything I needed and the top of the line laptop on top of it was way more advanced than every other computer I'd ever worked with. I'd started to refuse all the luxuries, but Ranger's only response was that I deserved it to be spoiled and had shut me up with a kiss.

But the best detail was the small bathroom Ranger had installed for me. It was small, but it even held a shower. As I was the only woman at RangeMan, next to Ella, I'd always had to go up to our apartment to take care of business. Now I just had to walk a few steps. I shared it with Ranger, but it certainly had gotten handy a few times already, especially to clean up after an unplanned but very enjoyable encounter before we were to meet a client.

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Thanks for reading. I'll add to this occasionally, not only shorts that tie in between the main stories, but also alternative POVs of certain situations or stuff that happens parallel to Birthday Surprises but isn't essential to this story.

Feedback is greatly appreciated, especially with tipps what to improve. TIA, Kat


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own the character. No copyright infringement intended.

Thanks to Amy for editing.

A/N: I know that I haven't posted BS to this point yet but my muse visited and I'm happy with what I can get from here these days. Only two or three chapters until we get to that point in BS, promise.

* * *

**Two weeks after Ranger and Moxie leave for Bolivia**

Tank's POV

Moxie and Ranger had been gone for about two weeks when Mary Alice came storming into my office. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes shone with unshed tears.

"What's wrong, MA?" The boss had left me in charge when he left on his mission and he would have my ass if I didn't take care of Mary Alice, not to say anything about Moxie whose wrath would probable be even worse.

"My mom."

I stood up and walked over to her to gather her in my arms. What her Mom had said to her had clearly upset her.

"What did she say to you now?" I felt her shaking in my arms and she sniffled.

"Remember this home ec class she wants me to take?" Oh yes did I remember. Her mom had been a real bitch about it and only a stern talking to from Moxie had set her straight.

"Yeah?"

"After Aunt Steph talked to her she gave up on it, but now that they left she's been on my case again. I don't want to take home ec. I want to do some sports classes but she won't let me."

By now Mary Alice was outright sobbing in my arms so I picked her up and went into the break room with her. I was sure Ella had stashed some sugary goods there.

When we were settled, Mary Alice in my lap, I asked her, "What did your mom say when you told her?"

"It's not," sniffle, "appropriate for a young lady to play rough sports. She hates that I'm still coming over here for my self defense classes even though she thinks I don't need them. She wants me to learn how to cook the perfect pot roast, but there's nothing more boring than cooking to me. She keeps pushing me and making threats. If you don't take home ec then this or that will happen. Be more like your sister, learn how to cook. But I don't want to."

"I understand that MA and I'll talk to your mom about it, but I think there's something else too, isn't there?"

She nodded and sniffled again. I handed her my handkerchief and she thankfully took it, blowing her nose loudly and wiping away all the snot.

"There's this boy in my class-" Damn, why did she have to have these kinds of problems with Steph in the wind? I wasn't good at girl talk.

"What about him?"

"He's really nice. He helped me with my algebra, cuz you know I'm not that good with it. And he invited me out to ice cream. I asked my mom for permission, but she won't let me go, she said I was too young to date."

The sniffles started again just when Lester poked his head into the break room.

"Would you get me some Ben and Jerry's out of the freezer, please?"

He took one look at MA and nodded. He pushed a pint of Phish food and a spoon into her hands and then sat down opposite her.

"Don't let the chains of the world keep you down. Cast them off, and be free to fly. Don't let your mom's misconceptions hold you down. What about Tank and I talk to your mom and we'll arrange for somebody to chaperone?"

"That would be great guys. I love you." She hopped off my lap, beaming at us and skipped to the elevator.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I think we successfully survived our first girl talk," Lester answered me.

"Smart ass. Don't let the others know or we'll be the pussies of this company. Now back to work."

I went back into my office to give Mrs Kloughn a call. This issue needed to be taken care off immediately.

* * *

Thanks for reading, Kat


	3. Chapter 3

No copyright infringement intended.

This is for Sam, who inspired me with her review. Thanks to Amy for editing.

**One week after MA's talk with Tank**

Tank's POV

I was sitting in the break room, enjoying the whole grain blueberry pancakes Ella had provided for us that day. This brought me to think about Ranger and Moxie in some jungle in South America. For all I knew they were living off of twigs and bark always watching their back while I was sitting in the safe, climated Rangeman building enjoying a culinary feast. Life just wasn't fair sometimes.

We didn't even know when we could expect them back, but from the information they'd left for me the night they had to leave, it could be a bit. Months probably.

That left me to run the company, make friendly chit chat with clients and take care of Mary Alice.

After she visited me last week I'd called her bitch of a mom. To say the conversation wasn't friendly would be the understatement of the century. I was sure I had convinced her that MA needed more space but apparently she was a false bitch. Not that that was anything new after the way she acted towards Moxie when we got back from our first mission together.

When MA had gotten home her mom had started in on her, calling her a failure and accusing her of being a disgrace in front of the whole Burg, running to a thug for advice.

Mary Alice had run to her room, sobbing. She felt like the whole world was out to hurt her so she did the only thing she could think of. She called me.

She'd been given her own cell phone a few weeks after she started with her self defense training, another thing that her mom didn't approve of. What she didn't know though was that Ranger had had it equipped with a tracker. With the cell phone came all the Merry Men's numbers.

Anyway, she'd called me, sobbing into the phone so I could barely make out what she was saying, but I got the gist of it.

I got Bobby and Lester and together we drove over to pick her up. We snagged her out right from under her mom's wings, packed her a bag and took her back to Haywood with us. Ella took her under her wing. She's sleeping in one of Ella's guest rooms now.

We see to it that she goes to school and one of us supervises her homework and helps her with it if she needs it. And most of all, she gets praise for things well done. I believe she's never gotten as much praise as in the week she's been living with us. But living at Haywood could only be a temporary solution. The girl needed parents, not a bunch of uncles to take care of her. I just hoped she could go back to live with her mom and step dad once things calmed down and her mom saw the error of her ways.

Just as I was finishing up my pancakes Lester walked in, looking slightly worse for wear.

"What's up? Rough night?"

He dropped down in a chair opposite me and nodded. "I just don't know what to do about Connie and it keeps me from sleeping."

I raised an eyebrow willing him to continue.

"I've got feelings for her. But for the life of me I have no idea what to do about it."

Lester got up again and trudged over to the freezer. He grabbed a pint of ice cream before sitting back down. "Just when did we start having ice cream in the freezer all the time?"

"Since Steph started PMSing with her birth control shots. Right before she got this IUD of hers."

"Just how do you know about that one?" I thought only Ranger, Steph and me knew about her birth control of choice. And I only knew because I was listed as a next of kin, in case Ranger was not available.

"We shared more than one pint over her bitching getting the damn thing. But that still doesn't help me on what to do about Connie." He resumed shoveling ice cream into his mouth, but it got me thinking.

Lester had always been a ladies man, love them and leave them. I thought he'd never been in a serious relationship before this thing, whatever it was, with Connie started. No wonder he had no idea how to deal with it.

"What about wining and dining her? Ever heard of that?"

"I know that. I'm not that stupid, Tank. But what if I make a total ass out of myself? I'm afraid I'll do something stupid and embarrass her."

When did he get so insecure? Guess it was really love. What would have thought it, ladies' man Lester Santos was in love.

"Les, you've got to risk something. That's part of what it makes so exciting to be in love. You need to figure out how to impress her. And do you know what the best way for this would be? Tell her you're insecure, that you have no idea how to do about it."

"But that's stupid."

"You've got the stupidity covered, but do you have the balls?"

"Is that a dare?"

"If you want to see it like one. Les you need to get your balls back. Tell her you're afraid to make a mistake that would drive her away. Women thrive on this shit, believe me. Lula gets all mushy when I admit to being afraid of something. They want the strong and silent type, guys who can protect them, but they need to feel like there's a real man underneath all the walls we've built to protect us."

"You've done lost it." Lester sounded mad at me. Hell, it wasn't my fault women ticked that way.

"Help Connie chip away at the walls you've built around yourself. You need to let her see the man underneath it. It's you she needs to fall in love with, not the image of yourself you show the world. Show her the real you."

Just then Bobby walked in.

"Just when did you get so wise, man?" Bobby asked me.

"When I fell in love with Lula, that's when. Just look at the boss. He's let the Bombshell into his life and he hasn't been happier than this. Get your balls and risk it before you spend the rest of your life wondering 'what if'."

Lester nodded, got up, pitched the empty ice cream pint into the trash and left the room. Probably to mull over what I'd said.

I looked up at Bobby. "Do you need any relationship advice too, while I'm at it? I'm on a roll now."

He grinned. "Thanks, but I've got it covered. Things are going well with us."

"Us?"

"Too fresh to tell you about it but I'm pretty sure it will get pretty serious pretty soon."

"Okay. Is there anything else going on I need to know?"

"Nothing I can think of at the moment, but who's on homework duty today?" We rotated so everybody would get to spend time with MA and, on the other hand, wouldn't get bored helping her with homework every afternoon. She spent most of the time in the control room anyway, apart from when Frank picked her up to take her out for ice cream and homemade cookies. Frank was glad that we could give MA a place to stay while her mom was so upset over nothing.

"In fact, you are. She's got some biology assignment she needs your help with."

"Okay."

It was my time to nod and get up to take care of the company while Bobby got to enjoy his breakfast.

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Did you like sensitive Tank? Let me hear your thoughts, please. Kat


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